Maria Sakkari battled past Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek in three sets to reach the second round of the Adelaide International on Monday and kick off the new WTA season.
The 26-year-old world number six Greek was on court for just over two hours before seeing off Zidansek 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
Sakkari, admitted she had been well below her best as she warms-up for the Australian Open later this month.
“I didn’t feel great to be perfectly honest,” she said.
“It wasn’t a good match from my side but I found a way through it, I did everything I had to do to win -which sometimes is enough- and I’m excited to be in the second round.”
Third seed, Sakkari will now play either American Shelby Rogers or a qualifier.
“I want to be ready for the next match and yes, I am here to win this tournament but my main goal is to be prepared for the Australian Open.”
Asked whether she will participate in the upcoming Sydney Tennis Classic, Sakkari said it all depends on how far she will progress at the Adelaide International.
“I am not confident with moving states due to COVID so at this point we will try not to take unnecessary risks.”
Last year apart from making two Grand Slam semifinals, Sakkari debuted at the WTA Finals, broke into the top-10 for the first time in her career and was also announced Greece’s best female athlete.
Conveying her message to the youngsters who look up to her, the World No 6 says that she owes a lot to her team and to the values her parents instilled to her.
“Growing up, my parents taught me that no matter how far I reach in my career I need to be myself and remain humble. I am where because of those values and hard work.”
In 2021 Sakkari enjoyed the best season of her career at the age of 26 and now she definitely has started the season right in Australia with the Greek community by her side.
“It feels amazing. Wherever I go in Australia I see Greek people who appreciate what we have achieved so far and admire us. It’s great,” Sakkari concluded.
Greek Australian soccer legend, Ulysses Kokkinos, has passed away today at the age of 73.
Kokkinos’ death has rocked the community, with many posting tributes in honour of the former soccer player and manager.
“It’s with sadness to hear of the sad loss of former South Melbourne FC, Panathinaikos and Football Victoria state team player Ulysses Kokkinos, whom I had the pleasure to meet and interact with over the years. Rest In Peace Ulysses,” the Head of Marcomms & Corp Affairs at Football Australia, Peter Filopoulos, wrote on Twitter.
It’s with sadness to hear of the sad loss of former @smfc@PaoEnglish and @footballvic state team player Ulysses Kokkinos whom I had the pleasure to meet and interact with over the years. Rest In Peace Ulysses.
Kokkinos is known primarily for his career in Victorian soccer, in particular with South Melbourne FC. He also played in his native Greece with Panathinaikos, Paniliakos and Panserraikos.
In the early 1970s, he represented the state of Victoria against various touring sides, making five appearances and scoring twice.
We’re coming to the end of another year and although the news cycle has been dominated by COVID-19, there have also been some fantastic community stories which have captured the attention of The Greek Herald’s readers.
From 100-year-old Christina Giannakis sharing her secrets to a long life, to celebrations across Australia for the Greek Revolution bicentenary, and even a 104-year-old living Anzac who fought in the Battle of Crete, here’s our list of the 15+1 most-read The Greek Herald stories of 2021.
In August this year, former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian responded to a letter by 7-year-old, George Vrahas, where he expressed how upset he was that he was not able to celebrate his birthday due to the lockdown.
In her response, Ms Berejiklian wrote that “it’s important that we follow the health advice to keep us all safe during this time” and signed off with a personalised signature: ‘Auntie Gladys.’
Greek Australians, Lefka Georgantis, Helen Logas and Aphrodite Lambrou, took a leap of faith seven years ago and used their business experience to develop a new Greek paradise, the White Pebble Suites in Pollonia, Milos.
Lefka told The Greek Herald that the fact White Pebble Suites is a ‘Greek Australian hotel’ makes it unique in its own right and brings a new experience to the people of Greece, while simultaneously making Australians feel at home.
From Canberra to Melbourne, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, the whole of Australia celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution this year by proudly displaying Greek flags and lighting their iconic monuments blue and white.
The Greek Herald also launched its #GreekFlagWeek campaign, asking people to share on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram how we proudly Fly, Share and Post our Greek flags. The movement was a success, with one reader, Titan Cranes, even sending in a photo of his Greek flag flying proudly on a huge crane!
A migrant from the Greek island of Kefallonia, Christina Giannakis, celebrated her 100th birthday this year with friends and family at the South Australian aged care home where she currently lives.
In an interview with The Greek Herald, Ms Giannakis looked back at her life and migration journey to Australia along with her youngest son, Chris Giannakis, and shared her secrets to a long life.
“My faith is what gives me strength. I am healthy and health is wealth,” she said at the time.
Photo: Georgia Politis Photography / Republished with permission.
Thousands poured into the Darwin Esplanade over the June long weekend to get their filling of yiros, baklava and Mythos beer as the Darwin GleNTi returned with a bang.
The festival, which was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is organised annually by the Greek Orthodox Community of Northern Australia (GOCNA) and this year it marked 200 years of the Greek Revolution.
Pastitsio (Pasta Bake) is Greece’s answer to Italian lasagna. Yiayia Rose and her granddaughter, Christina, from Homemade By Rose shared their authentic recipe with us and you loved it!
Homemade by Rose started a few years ago after Christina began to share Yiayia Rose’s traditional recipes on social media as “a way of documenting and keeping our traditional cooking going.”
The COVID-19 vaccination drive was ramped up across Australia this year and many of The Greek Herald‘s readers were interested in a number of initiatives launched by their local Greek communities.
In NSW, the gymnasium of All Saints Grammar in Belmore opened to the public on Wednesday, August 18, as a pop-up vaccination clinic. On opening day, hundreds of people, both from the Greek and wider community, turned out to get their vaccination.
At Belmore Sports Ground, a steady stream of cars turned up as people went to receive their Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines at Sydney’s first drive through vaccination clinic. The clinic was in the heart of one of Sydney’s 12 hotspot Local Government Areas and was at the spiritual home of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (a NRL team with a large number of Greek supporters).
In Victoria, the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) also launched a pop-up vaccination hub at its Greek Orthodox Church of St George in Thornbury to help the local community get their COVID-19 vaccine.
At 104 years of age, Alf Carpenter is one of Australia’s oldest surviving Anzacs. He’s lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, 9/11 and now the coronavirus pandemic, but none are as personal to him as the Battle of Crete – which this year marked its 80th anniversary.
Mr Carpenter spoke with The Greek Herald about his time during the battle and described how the reception Greek people gave the Anzac contingent when they arrived was unbelievable.
“I was never afraid of the enemy, they had equal chances with us and the Greeks couldn’t do enough for us,” he said in the interview.
Photo (left): In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians National Project Archives. Photo (right): Effy Alexakis. Both republished with permission.
Walking into Olympia Cafe in the rural New South Wales town of Bigga is like going back in time to the good old days of Greek milkshake bars and fish and chip shops. There are still the pristine floorboards, marble-top tables, a soda fountain and even an old-fashioned milkshake maker.
Standing proudly amongst all these things is 84-year-old, Helen Faros, and she told The Greek Herald exclusively that the cafe celebrates 95 years this year and she has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
From a young age, Angelina Lati was always healthy, bubbly and energetic. That is until, at the tender age of 15, she received the heartbreaking diagnosis of Lafora Disease, which is a form of childhood dementia.
In an informative article, The Greek Herald shared the facts around childhood dementia and spoke with Angelina’s mother, Niki Markou, who shared Angelina’s slow decline.
“It’s like she’s fading away. That’s the only way to describe it. You watch old videos back and that’s when you really realise the difference of how she was and how she is now and how quick the progression is,” Ms Markou explained.
Recognised as Australia’s most respected, trusted and longest-running children’s series, it was known that if you had made it on the ABC program ‘Play School,’ you had made your mark on the television industry.
For Greek Australian actor, Alex Papps, being accepted as a cast member in 2005 was a dream come true. Now, 15 years after his debut on screen, The Greek Herald spoke exclusively with Alex, who reminisced on his wonderful experiences on Play School and his Greek heritage.
To observe the powerful connection that Greek Australians have with sport, people need to look no further than the leaders of some of the nation’s biggest sporting clubs, stretching across the NRL and A-League.
Yet, there are none prouder of their heritage than Jason Sourasis, Chairman of Western United FC.
Mr Sourasis spoke exclusively with The Greek Herald about his struggle to keep the club’s historical importance alive, while building its relevance with second and third generation Greek-Australians.
At least 14 prominent Greek Australians in the areas of community service, visual arts, health, architecture and sport were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2021.
Greek-owned family business, Christopher’s Cake Shop, has been serving a variety of handcrafted cakes, pastries and Greek inspired desserts across 10 locations in Sydney since 1955. But despite this success, they haven’t been immune to the critical labour shortage impacting Australia’s hospitality industry due to the coronavirus pandemic.
We spoke with the CEO of Christopher’s Cake Shop, Kyriakos Panayi, about the impact of this shortage on his business and he said that without the support of JobKeeper payments “we were looking at closing six out of the ten shops.”
To mark International Women’s Day this year, The Greek Herald launched its 21 Women for 2021 series where we spoke with 21 Australian women of Greek heritage and from different career paths.
The trailblazing women who were interviewed include:
Cyprus and Greece have joined forces in a “milestone” collaboration to use their scientific expertise in tackling forest fires, The Cyprus Mailreports.
The Cyprus Institute (CyI), the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), and the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of joining forces to prevent and manage forest fires.
According to a written statement, the deal formalised “many years of research and cooperation” between the three top institutions and was necessary as the climate crisis has increased the frequency of catastrophic forest and suburban fires.
(1) utilise the know-how and experience acquired by the three institutions regarding the issue of forest fires, and
(2) develop an integrated action plan to incorporate, organise and utilise the existing knowledge of the institutions for the effective response to forest fires at all stages.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the director and chairman of the board of NOA, professor Manolis Plionis, the vice-rector for research and education of NKUA, professor Nikolaos Voulgaris, and The Cyprus Institute’s president, Professor Costas Papanicolas.
New research by luggage store app, Bounce, has listed Greece as the sixth best country in the world for wine tourism.
According to Ekathimerini, the study looked at factors such as wine consumption and production, number of vineyards and wine tours, and the average cost of a bottle of wine.
Greece received a score of 5.24 points out of ten and ranked strongest for the high ratio of guided wine tours available in the country – 4,685 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Coming out on top though was Italy with a score of 8.28, while Greece ranked behind Portugal, Spain, France and New Zealand but ahead of world-renowned producers such as Chile and Australia.
99-year-old Betty White, who’s maternal family hails from Greece, passed away on December 31 just three weeks shy of her 100th birthday.
Betty’s death was confirmed by her friend and agent, Jeff Witjas. No specific cause was cited.
“I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much,” he told PEOPLE in a statement.
Betty White (right) played in the iconic The Golden Girls TV show.
“I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
The Emmy Award-winning comic actress was a TV fixture for decades. She was best known for playing a man-hungry TV hostess on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s and a ditsy widow on The Golden Girls in the 1980s.
Speaking to People in an interview published on December 28, White said she felt “so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age.”
Betty White.
In the interview, Betty also shared her secrets to living a long life and encouraged everyone to “taste every moment.”
Prior to her death, White enjoyed a quiet life in Los Angeles playing crossword puzzles and card games. She also liked to watch animal documentaries, Jeopardy! and sports, particularly golf.
On January 17, fans can remember the star’s legacy with a special movie event called “Betty White: 100 Years Young – A Birthday Celebration.”
Team Greece believe they can make a strong impact at the ATP Cup in Sydney this year due to their past experience at the tournament and the constant support of Greek Australian fans.
The team is captained by Apostolos Tsitsipas and consists of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Petros Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis, Markos Kalovelonis and Aristotelis Thanos.
Speaking at the ATP Cup Media Day on Thursday, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is leading Team Greece, said he has faith his team “can sort it out in two matches [and] not have to go all the way to three [in each tie].”
“I think we have a team of young players that are just hungrier than anyone else. That’s what makes us kind of stand out and we have so much energy starting next week,” Tsitsipas said.
The World No.4 added that representing Greece on the ATP Cup level “means a lot” to the whole team and they hope to make Greek fans in Australia proud.
“I know there is plenty of Greek-Australians that are going to go wild watching us play,” he said.
Greece plays Team Poland, featuring Hubert Hurkacz, in Group D on Saturday, then Diego Schwartzman-led Argentina on Monday and Georgia on Wednesday.
New coronavirus cases in Greece smashed a fourth record in as many days on Thursday, reaching the unprecedented number of 35,580, the National Organisation for Public Health (EODY) has reported.
This is the highest number of cases ever recorded in the country in a 24-hour period since the start of the pandemic.
Fatalities also rose to 72 on Thursday, taking the total COVID death toll to 20,708.
Greece reported a record 35,580 COVID cases ahead of the New Year.
These case numbers come as new, stricter measures to thwart the spread of the Omicron variant in Greece came into force on Thursday morning.
Entertainment and food service venues are now allowed no standing customers or music and can only have a maximum of six per table.
New restrictions have been introduced in Greece.
High-protection KN95 or FFP2 masks, or alternatively a double layer of other masks, are also mandatory in supermarkets and public transport, as well as by employees in the food service sector.
In public and private sector workplaces, half of staff now have to work from home and staggered shifts have been reintroduced.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,170,293 confirmed coronavirus cases in Greece.
All services for the Blessing of the Waters in New South Wales and Victoria have been cancelled for next year, according to a statement by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.
The decision to cancel the events was made due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in both states, and was announced following an extraordinary online meeting chaired by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
Further to this, the services for the annual cutting of the Vasilopita in Sydney (January 3), in Melbourne (January 2) and Northcote (January 3) have also been cancelled.
The decision to cancel was made following an Extraordinary online meeting of the Bishops of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, chaired by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
A common service for the cutting of the Vasilopita will be held after the Divine Liturgy on January 1 by their Graces the Bishops at the churches where they will be liturgising.
In late January, an official celebratory dinner scheduled for the patron feast day of Archbishop Makarios has also been cancelled.
He has the visionary flame in his eyes, and his lively speech is dotted with the bits of his intelligence. Father Themistocles Adamopoulos is not the priest you are used to.
Child of Melbourne, a marxist rock star who renounced the mundane for Christ’s sake, and today in a waterless place, Sierra Leone, where the seven plagues of the Pharaoh have fallen, is the sire of hope for the pariahs of this world.
With the torch of faith mirrored in his eyes, restless at 77 years old, he does everything for a world that is forgotten by the West.
A few days ago he was in Athens to be honoured by the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, with the “Argo” award for his humanitarian contribution and we did not miss the opportunity to meet him and have a pithy conversation with a missionary who ministers to pure love without discrimination.
The Greek Herald unblocks the bolted doors of memory, and takes us to other times, familiar to those who read these lines.
The award and the female president:
Father Themistoklis Adamopoulos left Australia in 2007 and settled in Africa. First to Kenya and then to Sierra Leone.
He has established the first university Orthodox College, the “African Orthodox University College”. Before that he studied theology and was awarded his degree from the Catholic Theological Seminary “Corpus Christi”. He attended the Holy Cross Theological Seminary in Boston and studied Hebrew and ancient Greek at Harvard University.
He then received his doctorate in Theology from Princeton University and returned to Australia, where from 1988 to 1998 he taught at The Sydney School of Theology “St Andrew’s” and the University of Sydney.
Today, he has contributed to the creation of an orphanage, a kindergarten, a school and the infrastructure that has greatly improved the daily lives of thousands of people in Africa.
In addition, he makes sure that children and women are provided with necessary goods, such as clothes, shoes and meals at a soup kitchen. The above were a reason for his award, which found him completely unprepared, as he confesses to The Greek Herald.
“I was in Sierra Leone when my phone rang and they told me they wanted to award me. I was surprised. I didn’t expect it from a secular, non-ecclesiastical organisation like Argo. You know, today the church is hostile to Europe. They don’t respect the church like they used to. People who go to temples are outnumbered. Everyone brings out the negatives,” says “Father Themi,” as he is better known in Sierra Leone.
“Maybe not in Greece but certainly in Europe. So there is a tendency to move away from the church. In this connection, therefore, the recognition of a non-ecclesiastical organisation of our work struck me. It was a great joy and honour and it turned out that in Greece there is still respect for the church.”
The award was presented by the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. An unusual image for Greece until a few years ago to have a woman as a first citizen.
“Although I am Greek I have not lived in Greece more than 5 to 6 months in my entire life. Coming from Australia, where the position of the woman has been quite strong since the 1970s, when the wave of feminism flared up, it did not strike me that she is a female president of the Republic,” the Father says.
“From young children we have learned that man and woman have the same rights. I am glad that there is a woman president of the Republic in Greece. It doesn’t seem strange to me at all. Perhaps for Greece it was.”
Immigration to Melbourne and the first negative pictures:
His first steps in life took place in a mythical city for Hellenism: Alexandria, Egypt. “In those beautiful years I first felt the pride of a Greek of the Diaspora,” he says.
In the mid-1950s when he was about 10 years old, his family decided to emigrate. In a game of fate, his father decides to send a request for a visa to two embassies. Of Australia and Brazil.
“In Australia they responded to us immediately while in Brazil it took too long. I don’t know, maybe they were having a siesta” says Father Themistocles with his childish smile. “So my father said Australia looks a serious nation and we’re going there.”
And they sailed for a new, promising life, which in the early days, though, in Melbourne everything seemed nightmarish.
“We arrived by boat to Melbourne and the images we saw were unnerving,” he explains.
“The streets were full of mud. The toilets were outside the house and I remember my mother, who was a teacher, was on the verge of psychological collapse.
“From a house of our own in Alexandria, which at the time was very developed, with natives helping with the chores, we ended up in a residence that had the toilet outdoors.
“Everything seemed difficult in those days. My father, who was a chemist, was forced to work as a labourer.”
After a while of course everything changed. Father Themistocles’ mother found work as a teacher and his father as a chemist while he began to grow up having concerns.
Nature creative and insubordinate channeled his passion into music and politics. In the years of the 1960s, when humanity was vibrating by revolutionary movements, “Father Themi” read Marx and was the leader of the band “Flies”. He even sang at the side of Rock’s bad boy, Mick Jagger.
The enemy of the church and the passage from religions:
The future did not suggest that he would once wear cassock. “If you told me when I was 23 years old: ‘Themistocles in a few years you will become a priest I would … vomit ” says Father Themistocles in his spontaneous style.
“The church was in those days my enemy. I thought it was taking advantage of the world. So if someone told me I was going to be a priest, I would say … whatttt? I was reading Marx at the time and I wanted the worker to rise up and not be exploited by his bosses.
“However, at some point reading about Christianity I realised that all that Marx was saying about solidarity with man had been written thousands of years ago.”
“Something happened and prompted me to start reading about the Bible. I saw something which I did not expect. It was something of a vision. It’s something I don’t want to talk about too much because I don’t want to lose it’s value. So when I saw it, what I saw led me to the search.”
But he did not immediately go to Christianity. Hinduism and Buddhism were in his earliest pursuits before he espoused to the depths of his existence Christianity.
Some of the readers of The Greek Herald may remember him many years ago going out into the streets of Melbourne and preaching the will of God with a cross in his hand.
“I was a fanatic at first. I read The Gospel day and night. My parents thought I was sick. Then I started going out into Melbourne squares with a cross and teaching. That was excessive but I wanted to show Christ that I was a new man.”
The social role of the church in Australia:
At the time when Father Themistocles’ march to Christianity began, orthodoxy occupied a prominent place in the community, as he confesses to us.
“The church in Australia also had a social role for the community. For example, Mr Costas, who all week endured the Australian over his head, treating him badly and cursing him and trying to endure because he was in need his family came to church on Sunday and felt differently because he was the president of the local community. At that time I was greatly helped by Athanasios Triantafyllou, who at that time was not yet a priest. He is currently in the parish of St Basil in Brunswick. He knew the Gospel by heart and better than the priests then” tells us Father Themistocles, who thanks to the late Archbishop of Australia, Stylianos went to Boston to study.
But because of him, as he tells us, he left the country permanently. A confrontation that led him to Africa.
“When I came back from America to Australia everything was fine. But I quickly found that we were losing a lot of people because the sermon was in Greek. Younger generations could not understand,” he said.
“So I went to Archbishop Stylianos and told him that in order to keep the faithful in churches we needed the sermon in English as well. He flatly told me no. We are Greeks said characteristically and reacted. There was a conflict between us and I was sad.
“Even more so as I watched the churches empty. I was going to my parish houses and everyone was telling me I don’t understand anything why I should come. I was very disappointed in that period. And so I thought I’d go somewhere else.
“I said after I was born in Alexandria that it might be time for me to return to Africa. I sent a letter to the then Patriarch of Alexandria, Peter and explained to him that I was a professor in Sydney and wanted to go to Africa. I also told Archbishop Stylianos and he gave me his blessing. I think with joy after what had happened.”
The great work in Africa and the Greeks of Australia:
Today Father Themistocles is in Sierra Leone, where he has done great work. We ask him to become the eyes of our readers and say what he would see if someone went there today.
“He would see orphanages, kindergartens, schools, a clinic with a doctor who has been studying in Europe. A modern two-storey school. The gratitude of the children when they saw the school will be unforgettable,” he says.
“I remember they were jumping around when they saw the new building. The situation is slowly improving. I remember in 2007 we had power for half an hour a day. Today the electric current is more stable. When I came, Sierra Leone was the poorest country in the world. Today it has improved a bit.
“The main problem in Sierra Leone is poverty. The father who has no money to send his child to school. The mother who has four children. Two on the shoulder and two on the arms. She walks like this because her husband has abandoned her. She must find a way to feed her children.”
He tells us in a trembling voice of the great work of the churches. “If someone were to drive all the churches out of Africa tomorrow, 40 million people supported by their charity work would immediately die.
“I mean, look at this.
“A cappuccino costs 4 euros in Athens if you sit in the cafeteria. The 4 euro is 44,000 Leon (the Local Currency of the Sierra Leone). With this money a native can live with his family for two to three days. A cappuccino gives life to a family in Sierra Leone for two to three days”, says Father Themistocles, who in his speech during his award warmly thanked the Greeks of Australia.
“The Greeks of Australia have made a significant contribution to our work. Without our diaspora my work in Africa would not have been possible. They have contributed about 50% of the total offers we have received.
“At the same time from Greece we have the other 25% and from America the rest. I want you to write that there is an excellent team that helps me from Australia. It is called “Paradise 4 kids” and thanks to their help we have done a lot of good in Africa” concludes in a hearty confession the saint of Africa, as he is called.
* Those who wish to help the work of Father Themistocles can contact Louis Toumbas: ltounba@gmail.com
